High Fidelity Cables CT-1 Ultimate RCA Interconnects or DIY Headphone Cable

High Fidelity Cables CT-1 Ultimate RCA Interconnects (1.2 Meters/3.9 Feet)
"The Ultimate series was born out of the sheer desire to achieve the highest level of audio reproduction. Since the creation of the ultimate series, many new cable lines have been added but all of the series above Ultimate were born out of the same innovation that began with the Ultimate.

In this new series of Ultimate Cables we’ve upgraded to the V3 waveguide. The waveguide consists of an extra powerful magnetic waveguide. These new waveguide systems have both increased magnetic strength and a more focused magnetic field.

The new magnetic waveguide uses a technology we call Helix technology. It was born out of the same idea as the Helix technology used in other cables including CT-2, Ultimate Reference Helix, Pro Series, and our top level Pro Elite. It is also shared in Ultimate Titanium, Ultimate Reference, and in MC-6 Hemisphere power distributors. You can tell if a cable has V3 technology by looking at the waveguide - the three waveguides have silver bodies and black end caps.

Besides the Helix technology the V3 waveguide offers our patented mechanical dampening process. The magnetic parts within the V3 waveguide are suspended in a viscous silicone gel. This gel stays extremely soft and flexible and does not harden. The idea of the gel is to dramatically lower mechanical vibrations that travel through the cable.

Moving magnetic fields cause vibrations, and audio systems are made up of moving magnetic fields we call electricity. The electron is understood to be responsible for creating this magnetism. Throughout your audio electronics these magnetic fields repel and attract one another depending on the direction of current. Current flowing down the wire causes a magnetic field around the wire known as the B-field. When two current carrying wires flow beside each other the B-field causes them to behave like any other magnet, repelling and attracting at whatever frequency the electrical signal is being moved at. This occurs in both power and signal, as the current moves through the wire or circuit at the frequency being discharged. This causes the wires to attract and repel one another through the power supplying your electronics and the audio signal itself. The rate of vibration will differ depending on whether it is a power cord that resonates at 60 Hz or signal that can be anywhere from 1 Hz to 100 kHz and beyond. As the magnetic fields attract and repel, the wire physically moves. You cannot always see this movement and you cannot always hear this movement but it is always present in alternating current. The larger the current, the more movement is formed and the more audible and visual this force becomes.

This leads to vibration, and since vibration is a waveform it gets picked up, amplified, and played at some level through your audio system. This noise causes harshness and hardness in an audio system or what some people may referred to as glare.

In order to remove the vibrations and to reduce distortion the most effective way is through mechanical actions. As the wire starts to vibrate, the vibration uses the wire itself as a means of travel. Metal that makes up electrical conductors is an excellent mechanical conductor of vibration so the vibrations tend to flow with it. As these vibrations are passed from your power system to your electronics, and from one piece of electronics to the next, it is picked up, amplified, and played. Our vibration dampening technology stops these vibrations in their tracks by providing an absorbing material: the viscous silicone gel. The gel picks up the vibrations and eliminates them, lowering distortion. The effect is quite dramatic.

By removing these unwanted distortions and vibrations an audio system becomes much more fluid sounding, harmonically rich, and musical.

Due to the way magnets are placed inside the Ultimate series V3 waveguides, it offers a distinct advantage for a new type of mechanical dampening. The magnets are separated from one another along the fully magnetic conductor, with varying diameters of magnets throughout the waveguide. This leaves gaps that can be filled with gel that is on the same axis as the floor vibration through a wire. In traditional high-end audio wires and cables that use a dampening approach the only access to the wire is to sit on the outer edge. Although some vibrations will be removed through this method, most of the vibrations will still continue down the wire as it is the best medium for the vibration to follow. In order to remove the majority of vibrations you must be on the same access or plane as the vibrations themselves which is parallel to the wire. This means dampening technologies need to be literally going across the face of the wire in order to be truly effective.

With the magnetic waveguide having different sizes of magnets it leaves a void in that very space avoid that can be filled with the viscous silicone gel. The gel ends up dampening from both planes or axes giving it a distinct advantage. The material itself is far more effective then most any other material at dampening mechanical vibrations. The viscosity of the fluid must be reasonably high, yet not too high as to be stiff, for if the viscosity is too high the medium becomes a reasonable mechanical conductor itself. You need to maintain the viscosity of a reasonably light gel in order to be truly effective at removing vibrations. It needs to be liquid enough to move and absorb the vibrations yet stiff enough to dampen them. Our gel is designed to be optimal for removing vibrations and this makes the Ultimate one incredible contender.

So Ultimate offers both Magnetic Conduction technology in a superior form to its lower-priced models - the Reveal and CT-2 - and brings in this new patented vibration damping technology.

Magnets themselves, due to their porous nature, are not very good mechanical conductors but certainly better than fluid or gel. Even Reveal and CT-2 offer excellent mechanical dampening, however moving into the Ultimate's patented system dramatically lowers distortions over models that do not feature this technology.

This makes the Ultimate extremely musical. High Fidelity cables have always been known to have extremely low distortion and be rich in musicality, starting with the original CT-1. When legendary audiophile Harry Pearson tried our High Fidelity Cables CT-1, he mentioned it had a quality he referred to as 'flow'. This sonic attribute is highly praised amongst audiophiles who wish for cleaner, clearer, and yet more musical presentation. Still today the CT-1 is one of the most musical life-like and real sounding cables in audio. The CT-1 Ultimate was named after it’s achievement, reaching the ultimate goal of truly musical crystal-clear sound. In the industry today, besides even higher end versions of High Fidelity Cables, the Ultimate is the most clear and the musical sounding cable in the marketplace.

We invite you to experience the ultimate sound with High Fidelity Cables Ultimate series. We are sure that you will agree with the professional reviewers who unanimously have found this cable to be an absolute benchmark. Every reviewer who has tried the Ultimate series cables either acquired those cables as their reference or moved up the line in High Fidelity Cables models to use as their new reference.

We're confident that regardless of what cable you may have and regardless of the cost of that cable, the Ultimate will be an experience in audio reproduction that cannot be surpassed by any other brand. Isn’t it time that you to discover for yourself that 'magnets make more music'!"  


Includes High Fidelity Cables Cleaning Clay (Photo #5). 

 
See photo #6 for headphone cable adapter accessories (not included).  Kimber Kable's Classic series KCAG interconnects for amp end with AudioQuest's headphone adapter and KCTG interconnects for headphone adapter with Hosa Technology's GRF-341 3.5 mm TRSF to Dual RCAF Adapter.